Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1887-08-13
TERRIFIC DRoDTH.
Pitiablc Picture Of the Regions bis
tered BY the san.
Crops An Entire Failsre There.

detailed report OF the drouth in thu
northwest, an afternoon paper says:
The first intimation OF severe droutl
came from the state of Michi91n. In nc
part of the state, however, did the com
plant come from any single area covering
more than one county. Farmers anG
villagers reported that their vegetables
were suffering, but ten miles distant there
would be reports of abundant rains
About three weeks ago serious damage
was reported from certain sections Of
Michigan, and in some counties potatoes
were declared to be q complete failure az
q crop. Next came reports Of distress IL
Indiana, then from Wisconsin, and al
the present time. there is scarcely q
county likes and the Missis-
FsipH in Gwhicharain Is NOT prayed for.
Hers IL s1.gx&f&ct ffems letter written
last week ~ as good gardener as there
is in the state of Michigan. He writes
from Hillsdale county as follows:
"Ever since June Is the only water
which my garden has known has been
that which I have carried from the we'll,
and now I have indications that the well
is drying up, and the garden is burning
up as though scorched by fire. The
most recent intelligence which can be
obtained here shows that what is true
of the garden tract in Michigan applies
to every state in the northwest, while the
damage which the drouth has done to
corn and finer crops can hardly be over
estimated"
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
There is an area of perhaps 1900
square miles in the northwest where the
dust lies heavily upon the earth.
The district is bounded by Madison on
the north, Bloomington on the south,
Lake Michigan on the east and the Mis-
sissippi river on the west. Grass in the
meadows has grown yellow and white,
and the streams are as dry as powder
horns.
It has been nearly ton weeks since q
soaking rain fell in this district.
In southern Wisconsin there are thou
sands of acres where corn will not yield a
peck to the acre.
The wells have run dry and in some
towns water famines are imminent.
The drinking water at hand is often
polluted and filed with poisonous germs.
Typhoid fever is becoming more preva-
lent and dysentery and other stomach
disturbances are so common in some
places as to be almost epidemic.
Farmers in this district have already
turned their cattle loose to feed upon the
crops, until entire fields have been eaten
clean.
Added to all the miseries attending the
great drouth is the constant fear of fires.
The tall grass of the prairies is dead.
The fields are ready to burst into
flames and leaves lie in heaps in the
forests. Already the land encompassed
by these boundaries has been blackened
by wild fires. In some towns the people
are often called out three or four times a
day to fight flames of destructive fires
that have been raging for many days at
Kenosha and Racine.
Potatoes when taken from their beds of
ashes look crab apples. They are
wrinkled and spongy and unfit for food.
There is also a great scarcity of milk,
owing to the inability of the COWS to find
nutritious food.
SURROUNDED BY FIRES.
MILWAUKEE, WIS.,, Aug. 8.-A special
from Sheboygan, Mich, says that village
is enveloped in q dense smoke from
forest fires which are destroying much
timber in that vicinity.
The drouth in that section has been
protracted and all kinds of vegetation
has been burned up.